Second Place
by alibabaggypants
Summary: Ventus was saved by a different heart fourteen years ago and the worlds have changed for it. Fourteen years later, Riku is struggling to get back in first place against his best friend Sora, and the door is about to open... AU, no shipping.
1. Chapter 1

The water (or maybe air) brushed past him quickly… Which was a strangely familiar feeling, now that Riku thought about it. As he began to slow down, he opened his eyes…

...and remembered nothing more. Riku sighed as he sat up in bed, groaning at the mostly blocked rays of light. He knew he had dreamt about something important, and yet he couldn't remember one dang thing. This once he wanted to have something interesting to talk about that wouldn't lead to some grand mess for them to clean up.

Of course, that wasn't saying Riku wasn't interested in building the raft and getting off this stupid island. It's just that it was hard work building it, and Sora goofed off every chance he got, even though he was taller and could get to some of the materials and supplies easier than him and Kairi. Riku just wanted something to keep from getting frustrated with the progress.

Riku paused as he got dressed in the early morning light. Sora. It was always Sora.

Sora was always in the middle of something or another and he never seemed to learn his lesson. Riku usually would get wrapped up in it, whether he liked it or not. If he didn't know better he'd think that Sora was the younger one but that wasn't the case here. Of course, Kairi was the one that bailed them out most of the time, being a 'voice of reason'. Supposedly. At least it worked.

Riku grabbed a granola bar and bag he had some sandwiches for lunch in, and slipped out the back door. The sun had only risen about half hour ago so the island would be empty, allowing him to eat in peace.

He had no doubt that would be the last of it he'd get all day.

The trip over to the island was getting easier each year, but rather than make him feel stronger, Riku felt like the world was shrinking. In a few years, how small would this island feel? Will the raft bring them beyond those limits he had glimpsed for the first time all those years ago? Riku took a small bite of his quickly shrinking granola bar.

"Hey Riku! You're here early! Can't wait to work, huh?"

Riku choked loudly and turned around to see the cheerful face of Sora. "Why are you here so early? I thought you'd sleep in considering how _hard _you have worked in the last few days?" Riku jabbed, irritated that Sora had surprised him so much. Dang it, this was supposed to be his last vestige of peace before...this!

"Well, y'know, it seemed like such a nice day..." Sora turned to face the ocean. "We're almost done with the raft. We might not get to this view too much more."

Riku frowned at Sora's downhearted look. This was going to be an adventure not a death sentence! "Well, we will get to see new views ones we have never seen before! Doesn't that sound even better?"

Sora grinned a little. "Yeah, I guess. I just want to remember this so I can compare them all to it."

Riku smirked. "Well, how about you actually remember to grab your share of supplies today and not just nap all day long?"

"Oh, come on Riku! We still have some time left before the raft's done! And it isn't like I was trying to sleep!"

"But-" Riku froze.

Sora turned around. "Riku?"

"Did you hear that?" Riku looked around pensively, trying to locate the source of his unease.

"Riku, are you trying to scare me? You know that won't work-"

_Don't be afraid_...

Riku ran as quickly as he could to catch up with the voice. Those words were familiar, and he had to know their meaning.

"Riku?! Why are you running off like that?" Sora called after him, following him toward.

Was it coming from the Secret Place? Riku ducked down and slowed slightly as he tried to fit through the tight cavern. He was close now...

_You are the one who will open the door_...

Finally in the main cavern, he found nothing but the mysterious door and the drawing they had added over the years. Riku sighed, there was no sign if anyone had been here at all. He walked slowly toward the door, regretting his slow speed. "This door sure is odd."

Sora panted having just caught up. "Is that all you came to see?"

"Well,it certainly is interesting, is it not?"

Sora and Riku swiveled around to face the newcomer. "Where'd you come from?" Riku shot at him.

"Nowhere in particular, I am simply here to see the door," the hooded figure responded dodging the question easily.

Sora frowned. "Why would you want to see that old thing? It doesn't even have a doorknob!"

The figure laughed darkly at them.

Riku grew more frustrated. "Why are you laughing, old man?"

"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."

Riku jumped, was he actually... "What is behind the door then?"

Was it his imagination, or was he smirking?! "There is so very much to learn. You understand so little."

Riku almost jumped to hit that creepy old man, but Sora held him back. "Well, that doesn't matter!" Sora replied as much to calm him as to refute the figure. "We're gonna learn about it all! Whether you like it or not!"

"Hmph. A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing-"

"How do you know? What do you know about what we know, I think I know more than you!" Riku yelled.

"Yeah!"

"Then open the door. Perhaps you will find what you are looking for behind it."

Riku and Sora both glanced at the door, but the man was gone when they next looked. "Wh- where'd he go?" Sora mumbled.

Riku looked calculatingly at the door, feeling the same as Sora probably was. There was no way he could leave that quickly without them noticing. So how...? "I think this door requires a bit more looking at."

"I'll say..." Sora said slowly. Sora turned to look at him.

Riku nodded in return. They would be coming back here later today. After they got some work done. And speaking of... "Hey Sora, Kairi's probably here by now."

Sora blinked and then gasped loudly. "Oh no, she's gonna think we sleep in! She said she'd make me catch all the fish if I was!"

Riku laughed, all of the pressure from the encounter gone. "Kairi will follow through with _that _threat, I'm sure of it."

"Aw man, I'm terrible at fishing!" Sora threw up his hands in despair.

"Race ya to the raft, you win and we'll split the fishing." Riku knew he couldn't refuse an offer like that. He would get his revenge for the match yesterday...

"You're on!" Sora grinned as made his way out the last bit of the tunnel, Riku right behind him.

Riku's eyes gleamed from more than the sudden sunshine._ Got him!_ "Let's go!"

The two ran off, Riku with a slight lead. "Come on, that's cheating!"

"You've done the same thing!"

The laughter echoed throughout the now empty cave, that was filled with darkness once more.

The warm colors of the day's end had already mostly faded and the stars were speckled across the sky. The evenings here were beautiful, no matter what Riku might say about the rest of the world. It showed just a glimpse of stars and worlds unseen, coated in a slight warmth from sunset. But the darkness of night time would be here soon, so they needed to hurry if they wanted dinner tonight. "Hey Sora! You ready to go take a look?"

Sora grinned as he got out of his boat. "You better be grateful for this, it was really difficult convincing my mom to come... Also, uh, I think Kairi saw me so she'll be here in a bit." Sora ended sheepishly.

Armed with flashlights, they quickly started heading over to the Secret Place. "Well that's fine," Riku shrugged, "Kairi should be here this really does lead to anything. Otherwise, we could accidentally leave her behind."

Sora's eyes widened a bit. "That'd be terrible!"

Riku smirked in the darkness of the cave they had just entered. "Yeah, I'm sure you especially would hate that."

Riku didn't even need to see Sora's face to know he was blushing. "Th- th- that's not true at all!"

"Right, right, I suppose you don't need that paopu fruit you were talking about after all huh..." Sora had won yet again, unfortunately, in the race earlier and race rematch earlier, so not only had Riku had to catch fish for their supplies, he also had to get a paopu fruit. It was only 2 to 3, Riku would overtake him again soon...

"Well you already gave me it, so..." Sora frowned, and then blushed again. "Wait, what are you making me talk about?!"

"I didn't make you talk about anything, you could have just ignored me after all." Riku turned back around. " Anyway, we're here."

"Right. So, how do you think it opens?" Sora asked going up to the mysterious door.

The sudden footsteps echoed ominously in the cave. "Isn't it obvious? To open a door, you need a key."

Sora turned quickly on his heel. "You again?"

"A key?" Riku paused in mid step. A person from another world, and a key... "Do you mean...?"

Riku could almost feel the smugness coming off this guy in waves. "Open your heart and look for answer."

Sora slumped. "What the heck does that mean...? Hey are you just dodging the question?!"

Open your heart... Riku nodded to himself slightly. It wasn't to hard to at least try, and that old man would just avoid the question for hours, if he had his way. So, Riku focused inward...or at least he tried. "Sora, why are you still yelling?"

"He's a creep!"

"Well can't disagree with you there." Riku sighed inwardly. He still was their biggest lead on how to open this door however. So Riku began to focus again, this time on the image of a key. The dark room seemed to grow brighter, and Riku's arm was suddenly outstretched hold a large key. Riku didn't remember holding out his arm, but the key mattered. "Is this...the key?"

"Good job, now, open the door." They turned and found the hooded figure had disappeared again.

"What a creepy guy…" Sora muttered once more.

Riku and Sora glanced at each other and then looked down at the key. Riku began to smile somewhat without noticing. That really wasn't a dream back then. "So this is the key...it's pretty big."

Sora looked at it with a bit of awe. "Can I hold it?"

Riku gave him a _look_.

Sora pouted, an expression he really needed to stop using soon. "Pleeease?"

"Fine." Riku held it out, the point (?) towards Sora.

Sora grabbed it slowly with both hands, and stared at it in amazement. "This is incredible, Riku!"

Sora settled the hilt/handle of the key in his hands, and began to swing it around like a sword.

"Hey, be careful with that!" Riku gasped and reached out a hand to Sora. And then with a flash of light, found it back in his hands once more. "Huh. Guess I don't need to worry about anyone stealing it..."

"Hey Riku?" Sora's voice continued cheerfully as if directly ignoring what had just happened.

Riku was immediately suspicious. "Yes?"

"Can I open the door?"

"Eh?"

Sora nodded to his unspoken question. "Yeah, I just wanna try it, it seems...like it'll be cool! Besides you own the giant key, I'm sure you can find your own weird door to open with it!"

Riku looked down. "Well, I feel like its my job to do that though, not you."

Sora tackled Riku. "C'mon, it won't hurt anything, lemme at it!"

"Fine!" Riku snapped, struggling under Sora weight.

"Yes!" Sora grabbed the keyblade, and pointed it at the door. "Alright, door you're going dow-"

The older boy's words were cut off by a sudden glow at the end of the key as a laser shot out of it at a glowing keyhole in front of the door. A loud clicking rung throughout the cavern as all sounds but the flowing waterfall outside and the wind suddenly stopped. The cave suddenly seemed darker than just dusk could bring.

The keyblade reappeared back in Riku's hands, as if sensing the growing unease in his heart. Riku lowered his stance and looked around briefly meeting eyes with Sora. He had no idea what just happened either.

Riku's head shot around sharply. "Is that hissing?"

"What?"

Before they could find out the source, a scream rang sharply against the silence. The two boys knew immediately who that was, and were running before the echoes had even faded. "Kairi!"

AN: Hello this is my first fanfiction on this account, and my first AU. I've been looking forward to writing this for a while, so I'm glad summer is finally here.


	2. Chapter 2

When they exited the Secret Place the beach was empty, but the sky once clear and filled with stars, was dark and stormy. Riku stared in shock at the sudden weather change, but then realized the main problem. Kairi was not on the beach. "Where is she? I see her boat…"

Sora began running off. "Maybe she's on the other side of the island! She might have thought we went to check on the raft!"

Riku nodded, Kairi didn't know about the incident earlier so she would think that. "Right!"

What was supposed to be a quick run across the island was stopped in its tracks only seconds later. Dark shapes rose out of the shadows around them, blocking their path. Riku brandished the key towards one of them. "What is that?"

One jumped out and attacked Sora, causing him to bite his tongue from the pain. "Ow!"

"Sora!" Riku swung the key out the offending shape, half from instinct. Sora rubbed his thigh where he was bit, as Riku finished off whatever it was. "This must be why Kairi screamed. I'll make a path, get ready to run!"

Sora stood up unsteadily, and nodded. "Right. Be careful, their bites hurt."

Riku charged into the waves of monsters, swinging the key in a wide arc. Quickly regaining his balance from the failed swing, he finished off those he had hit with several quick blows. After clearing two more, Sora ran through, Riku right behind him. "Let's try not to get cornered like that again."

Sora laughed sharply, still on edge. "Will do."

The two raced over to the door to find that it wouldn't open. "Why won't it open?"

Sora leaned against the wall to rest. "I dunno. Maybe Kairi didn't go this way, or she ran from those things?"

Riku sighed. "Probably. That's the logical thing to do at least. Let's go to the shack, check on that leg of yours."

Defeating a few more monsters on the way, they slipped into the shack to rest for a second. Riku crouched down by Sora's tired form, once the door was locked. "Did that thing break the skin?"

Sora pulled up his pant leg to look. No blood had leaked through the pant leg but... "I think I've got a wounds here that'll bleed badly, but fortunately we have bandages in this shack, right? This is the right one?"

Riku stood and reached up to a shelf above them. "Yeah. None of them are too deep right? Looks like we've out of bandages for that sorta thing..."

"Um, one seems deep, but the rest only need bandaids." Sora said after a considering look at his leg.

Riku sighed. "Right then, first aid class, here we go."

Riku took a couple band-aids and start applying them as best he could, which was very, very, crooked. "Um, do you really know-"

"Yes. I had two whole semesters of it, trust me I know what I'm doing, I just… haven't used this brand of bandaids before."

"Riiight then."

Riku stood up quickly. "Let's go before we need to test these skills again."

Sora laughed. "Yes, doctor."

Riku walked quietly up to the upstairs door. "Let's check the other side of the island."

Sora got up gingerly and followed after him. "Yeah, let's hurry."

Riku leaned up against the door, trying to hear if anything was around. "I don't think too many of those things are here, we should be fine..."

Sora, smiling briefly to Riku when he got up there, quickly opened the shack's door. "Then go!"

Riku began striking each shadowy creature that came in there path, but found himself gasping for breath after a couple minutes of this. Protecting two people at once was harder than he thought, and they still had no idea where Kairi was.

"Riku!" He turned from his latest foe at Sora's call. What had happened now, he wondered glumly.

Apparently that feeling was communicated, as Sora shook his head quickly. "Look over there at the Secret Place! Theres a door on it!"

Riku jumped back from the latest target to a better look. Sora was right, there was a door on it. Why would there be another door..? "Maybe Kairi's there?" Riku questioned out loud.

"We might as well look!" Sora replied. Unspoken was the implication that they weren't getting anywhere out here anyways.

Sora and Riku ran over to the door. Sora stared at it for a moment. "Do you think it opens normally?"

Riku facepalmed. He couldn't help it, no matter how strange this situation was, that was still a dumb question. "Well, it has a doorknob, doesn't it?"

Sora faded a bit. "Er yeah, right, that was obvious wasn't it...?" Sora meekly said as he opened the door.

"You really need to grow a bit more of a backbone there, you were way too meek just now." Riku jabbed.

"Hey!" Sora glared. That was better, they did not need to be downhearted right now. Sora would probably get himself killed if he wasn't paying attention, and irritation was a wonderful tool to do just that.

Riku continued forward into the dark cave, satisfied with this conclusion. He blinked. Was it getting brighter up ahead?

Riku ran the last few steps, his bad feeling pushing him forward. "Kairi?!"

She turned slowly to face them both. "Riku...Sora..."

A sudden burst of wind from inside the door pushed her forward easily, making Riku worry further about her. How weak would you have to be feeling to fall that easily? Riku jumped at her in concern, only for her disappear in his hands.

Sora gasped, having only just made around the corner, with all the sudden wind. "Kairi!"

Before they could consider the effects of this further, the wind got even worse blowing the two of them off their feet. "Damn it!" Riku called out as they fell back through the rest of the cave to where they started. Or so he thought. When he had rubbed the sand out his eyes, he found that he wasn't where he thought he was at all. Or at least, Riku thought bitterly, it didn't exist any more. The two of them were standing on a single island floating in a giant storm. He called it an island, but it was more of a rock with some sand and a tree on it. No sign of the island they had grown up on, or the ocean he had longed to see the other side of. All that was left was the storm and the darkness.

Even as he thought this, more pieces of the islands, his_ home_, flew off into some dark hole in the sky. "This... this is my fault isn't it?"

Sora snapped out of his horrified gaze. "What? No-

A loud slamming noise went crashing through their ears before Sora could speak further. The two boys looked nervously at the location of the noise. On the edge of the shrinking island was a giant hand, black and clawed.

Riku backed up, slowly lowering himself back into the fighting pose again. Another hand reached up, and with sudden movement the entirety of the creature was visible. It looked like a giant but it was the heart shaped hole in its chest, not the glowing eyes or how pure black it was, showed how inhuman it was. Riku tried not to shiver. "That's a lot bigger than our last few opponents."

Sora visibly gulped. "I- I saw thing in one of my dreams recently. Its even worse in real life..."

Riku dodged the thing fist as it closed in on him. "Oh, so you've been fantasizing about dying painfully? That's good to know!" Riku yelled back at him as he attempted to attack the monster.

"Why would I fantasize about it when its happening?" Sora yelled back from his perch in the tree. Riku knew he was dying to come and help in reality, but hey, he's the one with the magical weapon, not Sora.

"Well, I dunno, ask your dream self that, maybe he'll have some advice!" Riku dodged another strike at him, and cursed under his breath when the tiny monsters started crawling out from the darkness underneath the fist. "Because while it might not look it, I really need some help over here!"

Sora put on a look of deep concentration and started muttering under his breath about something or another.

Riku slashed at the things crowding him and stared up at the giant before him. It only seemed the slightest bit injured, how much more damage would he have to do?

"I got it!" Sora cried. "The eyes! Go for the eyes!"

"Yeah, that does seem like a great weak spot, but how am I even supposed to get up there! It's like 20 feet tall!" he bit angrily.

Riku didn't even have to look back at him as he dodged two fireballs. He already knew Sora was just shrugging back there. "Well, jump, I guess!"

"Thanks, these words of wisdom will," Riku grunted after being hit with several more scratches from the shadowy ants. "...go down in history!"

"Thanks, but at least try and do something!" Sora refuted, obviously frustrated with the repeated denials of his usual tactics. "Right now, you're just gonna lose!"

Riku just muttered a few nasty words under his breath in response.

Just then, the giant swung its fist down again, bringing itself into a crouching position. " I still think jumping 10 feet is impossible, but..." Riku ran forward at the head of the monster at top speed. "This seems like a great chance to test your other theory!"

Riku slammed the key between the two glowing eyes, and watched as the entire thing collapsed.

"Yes!" Sora cheered from behind.

He smirked in response, and raised his blade up for another blow, which was, unfortunately, interrupted with the vacuum sensation from earlier. Riku dove a nearby piece of dock, and watched as the giant was quickly sucked into the black hole in the sky. The boys gulped. That hole seemed a lot bigger now...

"Riku!" Sora screamed over the loud noise of wind.

"Yeah?!"

"I don't think I can hold on!" A glance showed the younger boy that the tree Sora was holding on to was beginning to be sucked up. Of course the dock wasn't better...

"Then, see you on the other side?" Riku smiled weakly.

"Yeah..."

Their two handhold fell apart as one as the two boys gave each other one last solemn nod.

Far away from the once peaceful islands, a certain knight looked up into the night sky as a star blinked out.

AN: And that's chapter two! The battle segment was hard, but banter always flows so easily. Sora and Riku have a great dynamic, so I'm really sad they don't meet up again after this for the most part. Next chapter Riku's on his own, which has some fun observations to write, but I honestly can't wait til he meets Donald and Goofy. Talking and battling is more fun than wandering by yourself.


	3. Chapter 3

A wet tongue licking him was first sensation Riku felt as he came to. Blearily he opened his eyes to find a large dog blocking his entire field of vision. "Did Sora adopt a dog again…? ...wait." Riku gently moved the dog over, absently petting it as he did so.

In front of him was a building in a style that Riku had never seen in his home. Getting up to his feet, Riku walked out of the alleyway to find a small plaza in all warm colors. Above him, the stars shone brightly, but he couldn't see as many as before. Inwardly shrugging at that thought, it was probably all the lighting around, he moved on. "So this is another world, huh?"

A person sitting at a table in the cafe turned towards Riku as he passed. "So, did your world fall just now, then?"

Riku flinched invisibly. "Y- yeah. Does that happen a lot?"

The man took another sip of his coffee. "Happened to all of us. Those damn heartless won't leave a single soul alive if they could help it…" the man broke off into angry muttering the teen couldn't understand anymore. He wanted to know more about the 'heartless' but Riku would obviously get nowhere here. Or with anyone, if that guy was any indicator.

There were some shops up the stairs to his right, so Riku decided to start there. You could tell a lot about a place by what they sold. The first shop was for accessories he probably couldn't afford anyway, but the others were closed so he couldn't even look in them. Sighing, he went on into the accessory shop.

"Welcome, how can I...oh its a kid." the dingy-looking ended with a glower.

Riku glared back at him. "Well, that's great reception. Maybe I woulda bought something, but now I'm certain I won't, old man."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! And my name's Cid, not 'old man'"

"Well maybe you shouldn't have called me 'kid' then!" Riku's shoulders slumped down and he sighed. "Sorry, I'm just...on edge." Which was the understatement of the week just below, 'maybe opening that was a bad idea.'

Cid gave him a look. "I'll say. Hey, how 'bout you tell me what's got you so worked up? Love trouble?"

"No!" Riku looked at the man agast. "No, its just I... I think I may have messed something up pretty badly. And I have no idea where my friends are. Its a... bad day, I think."

Cid leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, that does sound pretty bad, kid."

Riku glared at him again.

"Right fine, I won't say that jeez." Cid took a long look at him. "Well, I'll keep a lookout for your friends, but I don't know I'll see 'em. What do they look like?"

Riku paused, not expecting this kindness. "Um, one is a boy a bit taller than me with spiky brown hair and a dumb red outfit, and the other is girl with red hair and a pink skirt."

"Right. Come back 'ere occasionally to check with me. I'll help you if I can, so don't hesitate to come back." Cid smirked at him.

Riku smirked back. "Right. My name's Riku, so next time don't call me kid."

"Yeah, yeah!" Cid yelled back at him as he walked out of the store.

Riku looked up the sky. It was just as beautiful as it was at home. 'Well, its time to find someplace to stay for tonight...maybe I'll take a quick look around first...'

Riku pushed open the doors to what was apparently the second district.

With a quick glance he saw a hotel to his left. Despite the convenience of such a thing, Riku raised an eyebrow at it, the hotel seemed really strange somehow.

Before he even got three steps, the only other person in the area, a woman Riku already knew he wanted nothing to do with, was suddenly attacked by a dark shadow in armor. The thing proceed to rip her heart out with its claws, and then ate it. This new world had far more sadistic enemies than Riku had given it credit.

Riku summoned his weapon as several more of the armored things crawled up who know's where. Riku dived at the first one, only for his attack to be blocked with a swipe of its claws. Riku followed up with a second blow, which made it through this time, knocking it into another monster. He took this chance to attack and defeat a third one, smirking when he realized the other two were dead.

With this, only three more were left. Riku swung wide to knock one back, and then stabbed it proper, for good measure. Riku turned and slipped behind the next monster, and, before it could respond, quickly slashed where he thought the joints were in the armor, killing instantly. The last armored shadow jumped and tried to slash at him, but Riku quickly blocked. Before the thing could land, Riku attacked it, guessing it couldn't block in midair. His hunch was right, and with that, the last of the mob was defeated.

Riku gave the rest of the area a glance. He probably wouldn't make it through the next attack as easily. The monsters made him momentarily worry about his friends, but he shook that worry away. They could take care of themselves, and if they did need help, he wasn't in the best shape to give it right now.

Riku turned around. Cid did say he would help him, and it was probably safer there than here. This whole area seemed to have been abandoned by people, and there was likely a reason for it.

"A reason," Riku muttered as he opened the huge doors once more, "I'd rather not meet."

"They'll come at you out of nowhere."Riku blinked and looked warily at the source, a man wearing a leather coat with a scar on his face.

Riku backed away a single step. "Who are you?"

"And they'll keep on coming at you, as long as you continue to

wield the Keyblade." Riku continued to give the man in the biker gang outfit a wary stare while he processed this information. That key was a called a keyblade? Which was pretty uncreative actually but... "But why? Why would it choose a kid like you?"

Riku chose this moment to run off. Those sounded like the words of a disillusioned cult member. And if he held the sacred object of some cult, he wanted nothing to do with them. The door to Cid's shop was just around the corner, and hey, Cid would probably take him in.

He was almost there when a loud crack echoed. He briefly wondered what if was as his vision wavered, and realised, oh, that was my head.

As he hit the ground, Riku heard an unfamiliar voice, but sleep took him to quickly to tell what they were saying.

o-o-o-o-o

Sora woke up slowly, too slowly. It was actually the slow speed of awakening that really jolted him awake. The moments before he was awake were always too brief for his liking, but no matter what, someone was around to take that feeling away. And if no one did that… Sora was alone.

Sora gulped, and opened his eyes slowly to ice blue rock. He sat up and around him were floating islands, and waterfalls that went up? This was another world alright. "Where exactly...am I?"

Sora jolted as he heard footsteps behind him. "In front of my castle, I would suppose. Unless something has gone horribly wrong, that seems to be where you are." Swiveling quickly to face the voice, Sora found an old lady in a long black dress towering above him.

"W- When did you get here? When I woke up I was alone…"

The woman smiled gently, although that combo seemed off for some reason he couldn't understand. "I saw you appear from my castle. If left alone, the heartless could attack you, and you are injured as it is, aren't you?"

It was true that he was injured, but one thing in that sentence rung out above all else. "You have a castle?"

Her grin grew wider with her pride. "Yes, my castle. It is up that slope."

Sora stood, and looked in the direction the woman waved one spindly hand towards. Up there was a huge castle covered in towers with magical looking smoke coming from most of them. The castle itself had a large or emblem on it that Sora had no clue of the meaning for. All in all, it was pretty dang impressive. "That... That's yours? Are you rich?"

"No, no." She turned, her black dress billowing out behind her. "No one else lives in this land."

"Oh..." Sora froze. If no-one else lived and his friends had landed here too, they could starve to death, or freeze to death or something. And worst of all, no-one would ever find them! He had to find Riku and Kairi before that! "I'm sorry but I really have to find my friends then! So, I'm gonna have to refuse that offer!"

"Then how about I search for them for you?" The smile on the womans face grew the slightest bit (more) prideful. "I happen to be able to find out quite a bit if I need to, and you would have free lodging. You are injured, as I said..."

Sora clenched his fist and took a step towards her. "Thanks, my name's Sora."

The lady stretched out a hand regally. "My name is Maleficent. Let's go together..."

o-o-o-o-o

AN: I finally managed to get this chapter up... There were a lot of obstacles... Writer's block, birthdays, lack of internet, Bravely Default...it twas harsh. Chapter 4 is probably going to be hard too, but... I'll try my best to get past Riku's stubbornness.

And FlightfootKeyseeker, I'm sorry but... Although, its probably less evil and more inevitable angst?

Also MegaFlameHedge, the headcanon that inspired all this that the 'newborn' heart that saved Ventus was literally newborn. Add that to a mention that if anyone else connected then Vanitus would have _their_ face instead... We get younger, not musclely Riku


	4. Chapter 4

_'Hey you lazy bum, I thought you were supposed to be the hardworking one...'_

_Kairi..?_

Riku struggled to try and open his eyes. He had to get up and see if she was really there and... okay. Riku slowly pushed himself, his eyes finally forced open. The girl sitting nearly on top of him wasn't Kairi. Riku sighed audibly.

The black haired girl smiled. "Hey! You finally awake?"

Riku groaned and turned over. It was too early, in Riku's mind, to deal with people like that. "No, I've probably been kidnapped, so the least you can do is let me sleep off the anxiety of that."

Riku felt the blanket being pulled away from where he had grabbed onto it, and pushed his face further into the pillow, just to irritate whoever did that. A deeper voice that Riku recognised from as the cultist guy from before sighed at him. "Well, we had to get that keyblade away from you, or you'd bring the whole town on our heads."

Riku sat up slowly, figuring he couldn't put off this conversation any longer. "What do you mean, 'bring down the whole town'?"

The man in the leather coat raised an eyebrow. "I figured your first question would be what the keyblade was with your look."

Giving him a look, Riku frowned at the table. "Well what other large key-shaped object is around here. Now seriously, what do you mean about the town?"

The man smirked. "True enough. What I mean, is that the keyblade attracts heartless. And, in the last year, the heartless count has soared."

"Oh." Riku considered that for a moment, and his head shot up again. "Wait, who are you guys anyways?"

The black haired posed in what was probably supposed to be dramatic. "I'm the great ninja Yu—"

"Other than complete weirdos, of course." the white-haired teen continued, ignoring her.

Yuffie glared at the back of his head. "Well, my name's Yuffie, if hadn't interrupted…."

Everyone ignored this, but Riku did make a note of her name, since he knew retribution was coming. It was best to prepared…

"I'm Leon. In the next room is Aerith, she probably will be back soon." Leon walked over to the table where the keyblade was. "Of course, we'll have to leave soon. The heartless will catch on eventually."

Leon picked up the keyblade. "It's hard to believe that this is the legendary weapon. Especially with you as the wielder." Leon's fist clenched tightly as Riku summoned the key back to himself.

Riku twirled the key arrogantly in Leon's direction, and banished it. "Not my fault. So why are there so many heartless anyway?"

"Well, by this point, you _should_ be aware there are many worlds, but…" Leon paused.

"We're not supposed to know." Yuffie interjected. "Everyone separate 'n stuff."

Leon frowned at her and continued. "The problem is the heartless, they changed everything…in a bad way."

"You see there was this guy named Ansem who studied the heartless!" Yuffie stated as if this was of most importance. "Of course, all of his research is lost, so we don't know too~ much…"

"But what we do know is the heartless are the darkness in hearts," Leon said grimly. "And they track people's hearts with that darkness. But the keyblade is the one thing that kills them."

"So this thing is that important..?" Riku stared down at his hand, memories springing up, unbidden.

"Yes." The dour man walked back over to him. "The heartless fear the keyblade, so they will always be trying to kill you, for the rest of your life. And with increase of heartless lately…"

Riku slumped backward. "Yeah, I get it, I get it."

Leon sharpen his gaze. "We need to get moving. Are you ready?"

Riku smirked up at him. "Yeah."

As if sensing the tension in the air, a heartless in armor popped out of nowhere. "Yuffie, let's go! Aerith should be waiting." Leon yelled, getting his gunblade out and ready.

"Right!" Yuffie ran into the next room, slamming the door.

Riku ignored the cry of surprise from the next, and focused on the threat in front of him. Where there was one heartless, a dozen more were probably preparing to swarm them. Riku summoned his keyblade, and glanced at Leon. "What now?"

The heartless jumped out the window during this exchange, as if recognizing the imminent danger at this point. "Well that's simple." Leon moved to follow the heartless out the window. "We follow this guy, and then, we find the leader."

Riku blinked as Leon proceeded to jump out the window. And rushed to follow immediately after, the sense of that finally making it through to him. "Right then," Riku said as he landed, years of island buffoonery finally paying off. "Where do we go from here?"

"The place you'd least like to be is good start. So that way." Leon waved his gunblade toward where a new wave of heartless were swarming out of the shadows around the side of the hotel.

Riku snorted. "Of course, it's there, why would we _ever_ get a break?"

Leon smiled slightly. "Yeah, it's never easy in life. Get used to it."

Riku swung his keyblade absently to get a few more of the heartless soldiers out of his way as they turned a corner into an alley. "I'd rather not, personally. 'Cause that would mean I'd be stuck with this."

"Well, you are." Leon frowned again. "Save your strength, you're gonna need it."

Pushing aside a few more heartless, Riku and Leon reached the third district's door. "Yeah, I know. Not my fault they were in my way." On this note, Riku pushed open the doors.

He walked slowly in, and looked back to where Leon was. He was not getting ambushed by himself if he could help it. This is why Riku immediately straightened up when he heard a loud noise above him.

Riku looked up to the small balcony to see to forms (not dark, so not heartless he hoped?) flying towards him. He turned and tried to run away, but found himself helpless as the shield one of them was holding slammed into his back, the two following right after.

Riku groaned, eyes opening slowly after a long instant of pain, the stone floor grinding into his cheek. It was probably bleeding. He just had to be the bottom of this pile, didn't he, the way his luck was going...

Riku heard a cry of 'the key' before everything went to hell. Any muttering of irritation at how dang famous the keyblade seemed to be, were cut off by far more pertinent observations. Like the walls that came up between him and backup. Or the four soldier heartless he found creeping up from behind them.

Riku pushed the assailants, who were animals apparently (?), and got into battle position. "Hey, you guys ready to fight? I see your weapons, I know you can, probably."

"Of course! I am-" the duck yelled petulantly.

"Great, let's go then." Riku dove at the first. Actually forced to fight them, he had to admit they were far tougher than the shadows from before. Their claws were sharper, and they kept on guarding!

All this meant was that he had to surprise them. This was a bit easier said than done, and Riku found himself missing the mark far more than he'd ever admit. That little bump had thrown him off, and he was getting punished for not adjusting faster. Riku strained himself to remember if he had that potion from before. He had one back on the island, but what had he done with it…

Riku snapped out of it as another claw hit its mark. It didn't hurt much, it was tiny, but it reminded him he needed to focus. Riku swung down hard and defeated the first of the four, smoke bursting out along with a looked like a stylized heart. He sighed inwardly, and turned to the other three.

The other two, he really needed their names, it was probably terrible to refer to them as dog and duck, were doing okay. The seemed no more used to real battle, since he could see how the dog was hiding behind his shield at some of the attacks. Not all of them, though, the dog did seem to be doing some damage.

As Riku began to attack the next heartless, he saw the duck look at him in the corner. He ignored the visible wince he got from him. Yeah, he knew he looked terrible, didn't need a reminder—

"Cure!"

Riku gasped as he felt the pain from his head and the scratches went away with a green glow. He hadn't realized how bad his head was hurting till it was gone. Riku smirked as the counter he had been trying for a while finally went through, taking down the second heartless. "Thanks, what _was_ that?"

"Haven't you ever seen magic before? That was a healing spell, obviously." Riku gave the duck a glance, that was one arrogant duck. Or rather, annoying.

"Well, no." Riku decided to step on that arrogance. "We heal up the old fashioned way in my town, it's better than dealing with your kind of personality. Just isn't worth the trouble. Besides, most of the time you just need a potion or two. Why bother?"

Riku smirked. That had gotten to the irritating magician, his whole was red. Of course, Riku thought, we are in a battle. A quick dodge around the next heartless, and with one blow he had stunned one of the damn things. Riku began beating the thing in earnest, and with several slashes it had finally dissipated.

"Finally, halfway." Riku took a long breath.

The dog nodded earnestly. "Yup!" He slammed into the next heartless with that shield of his. "I think we've almost got 'em!"

Riku eyed that shield again, it seemed like a useless weapon to him. Then again, he supposed if you hit someone hard with metal like that, it'd probably give them a concussion. In fact that was what really took him down bad a few minutes ago.

Riku slashed at the heartless' back while it wasn't looking at him. If nothing else the two were a good distraction, while he might complain, it was easier to have the duck heal him than to dig out a potion.

With one more jab, the heartless turned to smoke. Riku turned to face the final one, only for it to be finished off by the duck with some flames. He frowned, finding that almost too simple after the battle against the Darkside._ 'I mean sure, I have allies, oh _boy_. But that doesn't mean much. And Leon said something about a boss…ohhh no, not again.'_

Gulping already, Riku looked up and saw multicolored armor falling from the sky. Really _big_, really… _vibrant_ armor. The blue, red, and gold armor clattered down onto the ground, loudly. Then they slowly levitated up into the form of a body, except there was no head, or any other sign of a person. Although that was impossible from the beginning being at least twice Riku's size, probably more like three or four times.

It sat there for a moment, and then the helmet came hurtling down exactly where it needed to be.

"Gawrsh…" The knight seemed to huddle behind that shield just a bit more now.

As if that broke the tension, the armor swung the two clawed gauntlets out, in preparation to attack.

Riku clenched the keyblade in his hands just a little tighter. "Yup, that _definitely_ is not good. Let's take it on down then!"

o-o-o-o-o

AN: Hello! The first segment of this chapter with Riku waking up I've been writing and rewriting forever! After that mess, it felt like I wrote this chapter in one go.. By the way, I've been feeling like this has been mostly a rehash of KH1. It does actually end up changing a lot, but I just realized a lot of those changes come around CoM... Hopefully this part won't drag on too long, then.


	5. Chapter 5

Riku tightened his hold as he looked up at the giant armored heartless before him._ 'This'll be easy! After all, this is only a foot or two taller than last one!'_ He snorted quietly. Yep, only a little taller than the one on the islands, and he even had help this time! Probably incompetent help, but it had to be better than Sora hanging on to a tree, yelling encouragement.

So why did he still feel like this?

Rather than allow this introspection continue, the Guard Armor swung a claw at Riku, slamming him out of his thoughts and into a wall. Riku groaned as he sat up again. He had to make a rule of no thinking during battle. _Ever,_ again.

The dog ran over to where Riku was beginning to sit up, blocking a kick from one of the armored boots. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Riku stood quickly and charged back into the battle without a second thought of his allies.

Looking at it, Riku couldn't help but feel the heartless was not going to be taken down by just slamming the keyblade against it. Actually, that was probably the source of his unease. Maybe if he dented the armor enough it would disappear? Blocking another strike, Riku charged for real this time, all hesitation gone. Riku chained a short combo, jumping back when all of the armor seemed to try and slam down on him.

Riku stumbled back a few paces at the knee jarring force of its landing, and dashed forward as soon as he regained his balance. He was taking down this stupid armor, no matter how annoying it was.

Behind him, Donald fired off a couple more of those fireballs, finally knocking the armor off-balance for the first time in the battle. The armor flew apart, scattering across the plaza in three separate pieces. In front of Riku, only the claws had remained close by.

Riku smirked widely. _'And my first victims are those stupid claws.' _Riku crouched low, avoiding quickly spinning gauntlets. Immediately after their movement stopped, he began chaining blow after blow on them. Every dent was success, and with enough, he would never have to be slashed at by them again.

After what felt like at least two full minutes of banging at the armor's gauntlets, he felt the rush of sweet, sweet, success as suddenly Riku was enveloped in a dark mist. He blinked and the air was clear, and so was ground in front of him. Inwardly grinning at his victory, Riku turned around to find…_'Oh… oh no.'_

Donald and Goofy had not been doing well while he had been caught up with his own battle. They weren't that bad off, but well... every time they got anywhere with one part of the armor, the other's kick sent them back down. Sometimes very, very literally; Riku thought, flinching involuntarily as the feet kicked Goofy again.

He sighed and dropped one of his few potions on Goofy's prone body. That duck obviously wasn't helping, so Riku had to go and help instead. "Hmph. Looks like you need my help, huh?"

"No we don't, you—" Donald quacked angrily, the sound of screeching metal covering the rest.

Above Donald, Riku was drawing out a long slice against the armor, probably just to make a point. In defense, the torso armor spun itself, sending Riku flying face first into Donald.

Donald twitched, and then threw Riku off. "Now listen here!" Donald said, glaring at Riku.

Riku frowned right back at him.

"If we don't at least do something, we're gonna get killed," Donald paused, growing redder by the second, "and it'll all be _your fault_!"

Riku twitched. "Well, how am I supposed to fight it, then? It's not like this key came with a manual."

Suddenly Goofy started yelling, and they both turned and realized that maybe they ought to start running while they discussed this. The armor was starting to stomp around and Riku stood, readying himself to block for his life.

However, the frustration of this battle and Riku's attitude finally wore down Donald's last nerve, and he began spamming magical attacks at the giant heartless. The chained fireballs knocked the heartless off its feet, which were, immediately after, destroyed.

After this long, long battle, the trio was finally able to attack the torso without problems. Or at least without the other pieces getting in the way. There were still plenty of problems, like the spinning attack that it launched on them as soon as it landed on the ground.

Riku ran off from Donald and paced around the torso, waiting for the spinning to stop. There was no way to attack the stupid thing while it was spinning. Sure, that duck's magic could get it, maybe, but Riku would bet his keyblade that he couldn't pull off any more after that stunt earlier.

As the spinning ground slowly to halt, Riku walked carefully towards the armor, not wanting another surprise blow from it . Once it had fully stopped, Riku started chaining attacks on the heartless. Around him, Goofy and Donald were also swinging at it. The heartless could never recover from a blow, because another one would always follow close behind. Riku held back a smirk. There was no way it could retaliate now.

Realizing this, Riku began putting more force behind each strike, not conserving his stamina at all. They were close, he might as well try to finish up a bit faster.

With a particularly strong blow that Riku would be mystified on how to recreate later, the heartless shook and the helmet fell off with a boom. It sounded really heavy, and made Riku mildly glad he wasn't under it.

Above him, the place where the helmet had once been began to shine brightly, streams of light flying off. From the light emerged a huge crystalline heart that flew off into the sky. As it faded, the armor was coated in light and seemed to shatter like glass, leaving only sparkles.

Riku blinked at how bright the armor destruction was, and how much light was involved in a dark creature's death. Then, his brain finally caught back up to the present, bringing along several questions he had pushed out of his mind earlier. "Right then. Who are you, and what do you know about this key? I heard you guys say something about it earlier, so don't deny it."

Leon walked up from beside them, the walls having apparently come down when they defeated the heartless' boss. "Well, they too, were searching for the wielder of the keyblade…"

"Right then…" Riku sighed. He had the feeling that this keyblade was going to be trouble. Famous legendary things seemed to always be trouble, and being searched for? Even worse. "How did you even find me?"

"We came here on our ship!" Goofy said. "Why don't you come with us to other worlds?"

Riku stood there. "I might be able to find my friends that way, but.."

"Of course you could!" Donald said crossly.

Riku watched as the whispered at each other suspiciously and raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you really want me to come, at least introduce yourselves first. Perhaps even give an ID?" Riku walked a bit closer to them. "I mean, going off with complete strangers? I can see Sora doing that, but honestly that's like kidnapping bait right there."

Leon held his forehead and waved a hand towards him. "Riku, just go with them. They're your best bet if you want to find your friends."

"Alright, mister previous kidnapper." Riku rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Well, if you are coming, then we can't have any frowning on the ship!" Donald huffed. "It runs on happy faces, and unless you change that attitude, we'll get stuck in the middle of nowhere!"

"Happy…?" Riku brain tried to connect that sentence. _How would that even work? Does it just shut off if someone's sad..? _Shrugging, Riku attempted a smile.

Laughing burst out around him.

Leon had his back turned. "R.. Riku, just, just smirk or something."

Riku did indeed smirk at the situation and their reactions. "All right, all right, I get it. I'll go. You probably know by this point, but my name's Riku, yours?"

"Donald Duck."

"Name's Goofy!"

Riku's smirk became slightly more genuine. "Nice to meet you guys."

—

"Make sure you get ready before you go, we don't know how far the heartless have spread." Leon stated grimly.

Yuffie bounced over. "Also there are a ton of cool shops around, so you should check them out!"

Riku wasn't sure he was going to trust her definition of cool, but he did need more items. He had gotten lucky he hadn't run out in that last battle, and that was mostly because Donald had healed him that one time. "Right then, which shop sells items?"

Aerith smiled. "It's just over that way. Before you go, here's a bit of extra money, from all of us."

Riku glanced at the 500 munny and raised an eyebrow. "Um…"

"Well, funds are tight…" Aerith closed her eyes. After a moment, she smiled. "_But_, Leon also spent quite a bit on this."

Aerith pulled out an elixir. "Make good use of it."

If Riku remembered correctly, elixirs were really expensive, and he'd only seen a couple of them back on Destiny Islands anyway! Riku glanced at Leon who was quite pointedly looking anywhere but at him, and smiled. "Thanks."

Aerith carefully handed the precious elixir over to Riku, who stashed it in his bag. "I hope you find your friends."

Yuffie leaned over from behind Aerith's back, and grinned. "Yeah, good luck!"

Ten minutes later, and ten potions and three hi-potions richer, Riku came back to where Donald and Goofy were in the plaza. They had moved over to a bench to sit while they waited. "I'm done, what now?"

"Well, our gummi ship's outside the main gate," Donald said pointing to the main gate Riku had noticed earlier.

He raised an eyebrow, the sentence registering. "_Gummi _ship?"

"It's our ship." Donald replied matter-of-factly, frustrating Riku somewhat.

"I get that much, but what do you mean by 'gummi ship'? I mean what is it—"

Donald sighed loudly. "You'll understand once you see it. _Anyways_, I noticed you didn't use any magic, so here's the basic Fire spell."

Riku stared at the small red orb the duck was holding out to him. "Um?"

"Just hold it and it'll do the rest." Donald turned his face away, and muttered not quite quietly enough that, 'it still would be no match for his power.'

Riku shrugged and went ahead and learned Fire.

Beyond the gate was a small rocky area with an absurdly colored ship. Riku stared at it. This was the transport that would achieve what he had dreamed of for years…

It looked ridiculous.

"This is the gummi ship..?" Riku looked incredulously between the two of them.

"Eeyup, this is it!" Goofy nodded emphatically. "Remember, smile!"

Riku smirked somewhat in response. _I'm probably going to be laughing at this thing the whole time. _Slowly, Riku followed the two up to the door and entered.

The inside of the gummi-ship was bigger than he expected. The door that went through the engine room seemed like it functioned off the most mysterious technology he'd seen. Of course he'd seen something similar in passing earlier when he passed by the Gizmo Shop, but this was a lot more up close and personal. Loud voices began yelling loudly, and he found a pair of chipmunks on one of the engines. "Huh..?"

Donald picked up the two. "These guys are Chip and Dale. They're our mechanics."

"Nice to meetcha!" One said half-saluting, half waving. Riku already admitted to himself that he had no idea which was which. He probably would need to try to at some point.

Finally, Riku climbed the rungs of the ladder up to the cockpit.

It was smaller than the engine room below. There were three seats in the cockpit, and a door to another room. Riku peered through the tiny window in the door. "What's in there?"

Donald sat himself down at what Riku assumed was the driver's seat. "A couple of beds for us to sleep in."

Riku sat down in the seat to the left of Donald. There wasn't as many buttons down here, so he probably wouldn't have to do much. "Ride's long then?"

"Can be, just depends." Donald replied shortly, and began pressing several of the buttons in front of him.

Engines began to start up, softer than he expected. "Then…"

"Oh don't bother him now." Riku blinked at the new voice, and looked around until he finally spotted the small cricket on the dashboard. "He's busy, and I wanted to introduce myself. I'm Jiminy Cricket, and I'm taking record of our journey!"

Riku stared at the cricket for a moment. "...What's with the huge hat?"

Jiminy seemed to almost flush slightly, and rapidly switched his hat for a far more modest design. "Ah well, I was considering a slightly more… _grandiose_ introduction, but… I decided not to."

Riku chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I can see why. I'm Riku, by the way."

Jiminy nodded, and pulled out a tiny book. "Yes, I was there actually, but between trying not to fall off, and updating this…"

"I understand." As their conversation wound down, the engine kicked into gear. Riku was suddenly very grateful for the seatbelt he had put on by habit. The shaking from the take-off lasted a minute or two, and then Riku finally unwound a bit. He could already feel the day catching up with him…

Jiminy poked him lightly. "Look out the window."

Riku looked up from his lap, and saw the glittering stars of space. Space was coated with color from all of the nebulae and stars. It was probably the sight that would stick with Riku the longest out of everything that day. While new worlds were amazing, this was beautiful.

"Wow…"

Riku stared out the window for a long time, and after a very, very long day, finally succumbed to sleep.

—

AN: Right, so, after over a month, here's chapter 5! The fight scene was the whole problem, but its over now...

Anyways, next time the spotlights on Sora! Out of curiosity, does everyone actually want to read about every world? Only a few are changing at all, so... Plus all you'd get are Riku's snarky reactions... But yeah, please tell me if you really want to read that part.


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